Kings County drivers want province, NSP to trim trees

Donald Blenus untangles tree branches caught up in his dump truck as he drives down a rural road in Kings County. Blenus, who owns a contracting business, says his vehicles are being damaged by overhanging branches. (GORDON DELANEY / Valley Bureau)

CANNING — Donald Blenus drives a large tandem dump truck along a narrow Kings County road.

As he proceeds, tree branches, some thicker than a hockey stick, slap against his windshield and scrape the side of his truck. He has had mirrors broken from his vehicles, and tarps occasionally ripped off the top.

Such is the condition of some Kings County rural roads, where little, if any, tree pruning is taking place, and tree branches hang as far as the centre line and more.

Blenus, owner of Donald Blenus General Contracting in the Canning area, said his vehicles are getting damaged by the branches. He wants something done, and he’s not alone.

A group of businesspeople and farmers want trees pruned along Kings County roads. They staged an impromptu protest last week in Canning. About 20 people showed up on short notice to express anger at the state of the roads.

“I have to ride the yellow line to keep from beating the side off my vehicles,” Blenus said in an interview. He said he has a friend with a large recreational camper who had the air conditioner ripped off the roof by a tree branch this summer.

“If I had an expensive RV, I wouldn’t drive on these roads,” said Blenus, who employs 15 people in his construction business. “I would turn around and never return.”

Nova Scotia Power and the provincial Transportation Department need to be held accountable for cleaning out trees in ditches, around power lines and alongside roads, he said.

“But I see zero to very little maintenance being done.”

Blenus is planning a larger demonstration at the Valley office of the Transportation Department in the coming weeks.

“Some of these roads are like a goat path. They’re not fit for a vehicle to be on.”

He considers the roads unsafe and said he will file a complaint with the provincial Labour Department.

“If I had an unsafe working condition at my business, they would shut me down. … Maybe that’s what they should be doing with some of these roads.”

David Fuller, a grain and poultry farmer in the Blomidon area, is also angry about the state of roads.

“We can no longer sit back and allow nothing to happen,” said Fuller, who owns three farms. “We have some large equipment that we pay a significant amount of money for.

“To drive down the road and have branches literally run down the side of them is unacceptable.”

He wants a meeting with Premier Stephen McNeil.

“That’s our goal, to sit down with him and express our concerns and ask how they can be addressed.”

With the lack of tree pruning, the water has no place to go during heavy rains, causing large potholes and washout conditions, Fuller said.

“The roads are deteriorating.”

Barbara Baillie, executive director of maintenance and operations for the Transportation Department, said bush cutting is taking place, but the priority has been filling potholes and grading gravel roads.

“We do have money allotted for bush cutting, and we tender some out to the private sector. It’s a matter of priorities and the degree of encroachment on the roads.

“We have a standard policy that we follow. Each area is given a budget and they prioritize the work in that area.”

Anyone with a complaint about a specific road should call the regional office and a supervisor will go out and visit the road with the complainant, Baillie said.

Nova Scotia Power released a report last week that said it has increased spending on tree cutting to $16 million from $12 million during the past five years. It said many homeowners won’t allow tree cutting.